Three Arundel judge candidates to face off in general election

Andrea Siegel, The Baltimore Sin

The contest for two seats on the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court bench will remain a three-way race in the general election, though a challenger came within about 500 votes of ousting one of the sitting judges in last week's primary.

Unofficial election returns that include the last of the absentee and provisional ballots counted Wednesday show Laura Kiessling, a recently appointed judge and former prosecutor, as the top vote-getter on both the Democrat and Republican ballots in the nonpartisan race.

Coming in second on the Democrat ballot was Ronald Jarashow, who was a partner in a private law practice before he became a judge this year. Alison Asti, a former executive director of the Maryland Stadium Authority, was less than one percentage point behind him in votes. Asti came in second on the Republican ballot. In the nonpartisan race, the two top vote-getters on each party ballot run in the general election.

andrea.siegel@baltsun.com

To see the full vote count in Anne Arundel County, go to aacounty.org/Elections/index.cfm, and click on 2010 Gubernatorial Primary Election Results